Best time to see tonight’s supermoon in Toowoomba

WHETHER you've take up astronomy as an isolation hobby or not, tonight will provide an opportunity to see one of 2020's biggest and brightest moons.

USQ astrophysics professor Jonti Horner said the best time to view tonight's supermoon was at moonrise, which would start at about 6.05pm in Toowoomba, visible to the east.

"The moon goes around the earth, but the path it follows around the earth isn't completely round, it's more of an egg shape so sometimes (the moon) is closer and sometimes it's further away," Mr Horner said.

"At the same time it goes through the phases.

"When the full moon lines up to the time it's closest to the earth, we get what is called a supermoon."

Mr Horner said the moon was actually less than 10 per cent closer to the earth than average, which was enough to make it seem a bit bigger and a bit brighter than usual.

"It's about 27,000km nearer than normal, which is about 7 or 8 per cent," he said.

"It's about 12 per cent bigger and about 30 per cent brighter.

"384,000km is the moon's average distance from the earth."

Tonight's supermoon has been called the Pink Moon, but Mr Horner said it wouldn't actually appear pink.

"Every supermoon has a name which goes back to Native American culture," he said.

"The reason it's called the pink moon is because at this time of year in the US they get these pink flowers called phlox flowers."

For star gazing enthusiasts, Mr Horner said Venus is also very visible in the sky at the moment.

"Very bright out to the west at the moment is Venus," he said.

"This month it will get lower and lower in the sky but it's still really bright and really spectacular.

"Venus is brighter than everything in the bright sky except the moon."